Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Truly a transformation

September 9, 2010 was a turning point in my life. It was the day, or night to be specific, that I made the decision to begin taking better care of the temple God entrusted to me. It took 45 years of abuse and a very evident lack of exercise to reach what was my starting point of 207 pounds and wickedly out of shape.

Earlier that week I had reluctantly agreed to go with my wife Beth to a friend's house to learn about nutrition....like a guy like me really wanted to spend my night doing that. I was normally much more comfortable watching "Lie to Me" and eating handfuls of popcorn instead of being faced with all of the things I was doing wrong nutritionally. After all, I was doing ok. I had been to the doctor not long before and blood pressure was good, oxygen levels excellent. I was relatively healthy for my age. And if I were to compare myself to the population around me (don't we always do that) my belly was a lot smaller than most. And heck, I wasn't shopping at the Big and Tall store......yet.

Something that night rushed across me as I listened to our friend talk about the many benefits of proper nutrition. At the time, I wasn't quite sure what it was. To my surprise (and Beth's too), I committed that night to something that I had no intention 2 hours earlier to doing...at least not soon. Getting healthy. Now, don't get me wrong. We all want to be healthy, but most of us, like me, just don't want to do what it takes to get there. We don't want to live without the things we love (like Twizzlers and diet Coke, or pizza and pitchers of beer).

Everything we see about weight loss and getting healthy looks easy, but when we try it, it is very, very difficult. We learn there is NO quick fix. And, it is because of lack of a quick fix, with our instant everything mentality, that we choose to take the easy road.

My journey over the past five months has been nothing short of amazing. That night in September a Divine message was delivered to me from a friend that has forever changed my life. I am incredible\ly grateful that my eyes were opened up to the world of health and nutrition. In the first month alone, I released 18 pounds! To date, I have released over 30 pounds of fat and gained muscle that I haven't seen since somewhere back in the days when listening to Flock of Seagulls and catching Ferris Bueller at the drive in. I have less stress now that I have had in years. The world around me hasn't changed, but the way my body reacts to it has.

I am healthier than I've been in years, probably my entire life, and I owe it to anyone and everyone, who wants to improve their own health, to help them as well. I believe I have been prepared to do just that. For some, they know from a very early age what they will be when then grow up or how they will impact the world. For me, it took a lot of prayer and a night at a friend's house to see what the next step down life's path would be.